It’s amazing how much joy you can feel when your mother is simply able to touch her forehead on command. That’s what she did yesterday. It’s the first time I really cried since she’s been in the hospital. They were tears of joy because Mommy is waking up.
Everyday she’s been a little better. Before yesterday she could open her eyes on occasion, but they were glossed over and not open for very long. She couldn’t respond to any commands at all.
Yesterday she squeezed my hand when I asked. She squeezed really hard too! She can wiggle her toes on both feet on command. Her right arm, however, the prognosis is not good as the doctor said that she likely won’t ever regain the ability to use it.
She touched her forehead on command and that was a big deal. I told her I’d been working out, and said my chest is getting bigger. This is where I kind of lost it, she definitely heard me. She lifted her left hand to touch my chest.
Her eyes are following you now. No longer as glossed over. She is essentially awake. She can’t speak yet, but that likely has a lot to do with the tubes in her mouth that are both feeding her and also helping her to breathe. The next step is to get her off of the breathing machine. I think she’s going to make it, and for the first time since Monday I truly believe she’s going to make a good recovery.
As for me, I decided to come and play the WPT event at the Commerce. I skipped the first two events to be with my mother, despite her telling me not to. My brother is there with her, and I know, absolutely know that she wanted me to go and play the tournament. It might seem really odd to some people that I’m out here playing the event, but I genuinely feel like I’m doing what my mother would want me to do. I told her I was going to go win the million and bring it back to the hospital so she can count it. She loves counting money! When my dad used to bring home money from work she would always count it and put all the bills in the right order. It’s like a hobby of hers.
I’m not coming to LA to put in a poor effort. If I’m going to play this event, I’m going to make sure that I try my absolute best, otherwise it really wouldn’t make much sense coming at all.
If this tournament was on the east coast, or in Europe, I definitely wouldn’t have played. Since LA is only an hour away, I finally decided that I’m comfortable with getting back to work. If I bust out, I’ll be on the next flight home.]]>

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